New Delhi, April 26
With the stringent vigil of Election Commission and opponents keeping a hawk eye on every action, the contestants in the forthcoming elections are working overboard to play the game strictly by rules. The cap of Rs 25 lakh as the upper limit of expenditure during the elections is giving the candidates a headache.

Apart from a team of two to three persons keeping the accounts at every contestant’s office, some candidates have even recruited professionals to keep their spending within the prescribed limits. As a result, one of them haggling with the caterers to provide the particular bill is a common scene at election offices these days.

“It may seem easy on the surface to spend only Rs 25 lakh. But the fact is that lots of planning and effort is going into spending this money wisely and make it last till the last day of campaigning. Imagine a situation where you have spent all your money and there are still 4 or 5 days to polling,” said one of the candidates.

He added that apart from spending the money, keeping an account of even as little as Rs 10 spent on Bisleri bottle during a padyatra has to be put on records.

“I have sought help of a friend who is a chartered accountant and goes through my expenditure accounts every now and then. Apart from him, three of my staff members are engaged with keeping the receipt of day-to-day spending. They have no other work. I cannot afford any dereliction in this matter,” said the candidate.

As per the Election Commission’s instructions, local police station would video-tape the proceedings of any public meeting taking place in its area. As a result, it becomes easy for the expenditure observers to have an idea of spending on a particular meeting.

“We try and tape the amount of paraphernalia used in the meetings, including chairs, dais, loud speakers, tent, etc so as to give general idea of what is happening and how much is being spent,” said a Delhi police constable engaged in the task.

The camera recording is keeping the accounts staff of the candidates on toes and he has to keep the bills of money spent in the meeting.

“Now we cannot fudge the accounts by saying that we had only 100 chairs at the meeting and we only spent Rs 1,000 there. Police is recording the event and it could see that we had 1,000 chairs accounting to Rs 10,000,” said an accounts staff at one of East Delhi’s candidates. As a result of strict guidelines in matter of expenditure, the contestants tell the catering party well in advance about the receipts they would want and if he cannot provide, the deal is over.

This maintenance of accounts is also taking its toll on the staff involved. A staff member of one of the contestants says that he would never again involve himself with the task. “It’s a thankless job. You keeping running behind these workers asking them for the bills, but they don’t understand the priority. If I miss out on something, I would be crucified. Next time I will tell ‘sir’ to give me some other responsibility,” he said amidst tabulating the petrol bills used in the vehicles the previous day.

New Delhi, April 26
Pravesh Verma campaigned side by side with North West Delhi BJP candidate Meera Kawariya on Sunday and addressed many gatherings in a number of villages of Outer Delhi, assuring people that like his father, Sahib Singh Verma, Meera Kawariya has the same zeal to work for the poor.

Verma said, “We are fortunate to have such a charismatic leader among us. We are working religiously to ensure Kawariya’s win. Voting for Kawariya would be the true tribute to my father.” He appealed to the voters to treat her as Sahib Singh’s daughter.

Verma said that the Congress only gives assurances. He accused the Congress government of neglecting the development of North West Delhi and called upon people to throw the Congress out of power.

While campaigning, Kawariya said North West Delhi constituency was neglected as people of these areas had been supporters of Sahib Singh Verma.

The Congress is “indulging in revenge politics”, Kawariya pointed out. She assured villagers that she would bring about overall development of the constituency.

Kawariya lashed out at the Sheila Dikshit government for ignoring Outer Delhi villages.

Both Kawariya and Pravesh Verma today visited rural areas like Hiran Kundana, Neelwal, Tikri, Haridas Colony, Nizampur, Ghevra and many other villages of North West constituency.

With Verma chipping in, the BJP is now expecting to poll close to 80 per cent of the Jat votes in the constituency. The constituency has approximately 15 per cent (2.5 lakh) Jat votes out of a total of 18 lakh.

New Delhi, April 26
A confident Om Prakash Kohli, the Delhi BJP president, believes that it is the NDA under the leadership of future prime minister, Lal Krishan Advani that would be forming the government. Kohli’s views emerge, according to him, from the voting pattern of the first two phases, which clearly indicates the inefficacy of the Congress government at centre to provide security to the country.

“Naxalite and Maoist attacks have shaken the entire nation. The country has lost 40 security personnel and 11 security forces in the 1st and 2nd phase respectively,” said Kohli.

Terming the Congress government as a silent spectator, Kohli added, “The honour achieved by the country during the NDA rule has been lost by the weak and indecisive Manmohan Singh government during the last five years. About 400 districts in the country today are living under the threat of Maoists and the government is helplessly watching.”

After listing out the security concerns, the state BJP president continued with the task of enumerating out the failures of the Congress government at other fronts, including unemployment, recession, retrenchment, price rise, etc.

Again, Kohli outlined that the Congress government at centre and Delhi has completely failed in the matter of education, health, road, transport, power, water, security, etc. Besides, the prices of daily requirements are going beyond the reach of common man.

Gurgaon, April 26
Additional sessions judge Ashok Bhardwaj dismissed the bail application of Col. Trinayan Saikia, GM, security and safety, DLF, in a sensational lift mishap case that took place a few days back, here on Saturday.

On behalf of Col. Saikia, noted Delhi criminal lawyer R.K. Naseem had appeared whereas advocates S.S. Chauhan and C.K. Sharma appeared for the complainant.

It is to be mentioned that Nishant Mohan Sharma (27) got stuck in the lift in the cyber green building owned and maintained by DLF on April 7 while he was going to office on 10th floor. Nishant remained squeezed in the lift for nearly 25 minutes without any medical aid and by the time he was taken out, his condition had deteriorated.

The police registered a case against the company and Section-304 A was added after his death on April 10.

Col. Saikia surrendered himself before magistrate Ranjana Aggarwal through his counsel N.K. Jain on April 11.

Following a detailed argument, the magistrate dismissed his bail application after holding that the facts of the case are good enough to attract Section-299 punishable u/s 304 IPC.

Col. Saikia was sent to judicial custody. Aggrieved by the said order, Col. Saikia moved the sessions court that heard the bail application on April 23. The order on the bail that was reserved for April 24 was dismissed.

C.K. Sharma, counsel for the complainant, claimed that the police is supporting the accused and not arresting them.

Even the investigating agency is not conducting the probe properly.

The police had till recently not converted the case from 304-A IPC to 304 IPC which clearly shows that the investigating agency is colluding with the accused who belongs to a top corporate house of India, DLF.

Nishant’s uncle Naresh Sharma told The Tribune that the family members along with friends and relatives of the deceased are likely to stage a demonstration and meet the deputy commissioner, commissioner of police, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda soon.

Nishant’s father Shashank Mohan Sharma said that he had already faxed a letter to the Chief Minister on April 22 and added that he has full faith in judiciary and will get justice soon.

Noida, April 26
Congress candidate from Gautam Buddh Nagar Lok Sabha seat R.C. Tomar is back in news again for violating the code of conduct.

SDM Khurja has filed a complaint against Tomar for including a song and dance programme and having 22 vehicles at the venue without seeking permission in his Arenya public meeting.

According to sources, Tomar had obtained permission for two vehicles only.

A dance programme was organised. Young girls were allegedly dancing on stage on film numbers for which Tomar, reportedly, had not sought any permission.

A complaint was lodged against Tomar after the inquiry ordered by the SDM confirmed the allegations.

Additional district magistrate (ADM) Satish Chand said it would tantamount to the violation of election code. Besides, an FIR has been lodged against the organisers for bringing 22 vehicles to the public meeting ground.

Meanwhile, Tomar alleged that the ADM had been indulging in such activities to harass him. He said, “The official know that I am the winning candidate.”

Earlier, he was booked for allegedly distributing cash at a mosque.

Greater Noida, April 26
An illegal township having flats and big independent bungalows is fast coming up in the Greater Noida area on road near Vijay Nagar bypass. As it is an illegal township, the rates of land are almost 50% cheaper.

One can have a 300 sq yard bungalow here for just Rs 30 lakh as against a two-bedroom flat by Noida Authority which costs around Rs 80 lakh in the nearby sector 72.

Most of the unsuspecting people rushing in to take advantage of the cheaper and readily available plots are from Delhi and even Mumbai.

A large-scale sale and purchase of land is going on at this place in Noida Phase-II. Several plots have been cut, and boundary walls erected. In fact, some people have even started living here and two religious structures have also come up at the site.

The buyers forget that the area is the Hindon embankment and could easily be flooded if the level of the river rises during monsoon.

“This is an agricultural land, which the land mafia has grabbed from the farmers and it is now selling the land to earn hefty profits. It was river embankment, so the Noida Authority had not acquired it as it came under the flood control department. But the same land is now being sold to unsuspecting people, who are investing their hard-earned money in it,” says a resident of Delhi.

“Many people have bought these plots. I also went there, but when I found that these are the Hindon plains I backed out,” he adds.

“The land rate in Noida has skyrocketed. As a result, many unsuspecting people are buying these plots,” says Rampal Bhati, a villager.

“The land does not belong to any government body, but to villagers. And many of the villagers are selling this land with impunity,” says Rameshwar Badhana, another person who just stepped back from buying a plot.

Gurgaon, April 26
With all parties agreeing that residents of high-rise complexes and sprawling villas that characterise new Gurgaon seldom vote though they are often vocal about the country’s ills, candidates in the Lok Sabha poll from here are busy wooing voters elsewhere.

“The percentage of voters in posh societies is very low as people in the societies are indifferent and most of them do not even have voter ID cards,” said Tilak Raj Malhotra, in charge of the BJP’s campaign in the Gurgaon assembly segment.

“Our main agenda is to provide sewers, roads and drinking water to the residents of Old Gurgaon. There is not a single traffic light in Old Gurgaon,” he said.

The area now called Old Gurgaon predates the high-rise apartments, office blocks and shopping malls adjacent to the national capital that have put this Haryana town on the global map. The poll issues in Old Gurgaon are more typical of small town India.

Post-delimitation, urban voters form a small percentage in this constituency. Now it takes in those villages of southern Haryana’s impoverished Mewat region which were earlier part of the Mahendragarh constituency. That has changed not only poll equations but poll issues too.

BJP candidate Sudha Yadav is busy touring villages. The Congress and the BJP candidates are going all out to show concern for Old Gurgaon and Mewat as BSP’s Zakir Hussain threatens to grab a major chunk of Muslim and Dalit votes.

Muslims constitute 32 per cent of the 1.2 million voters in this constituency, while Dalits are 29 per cent.

The Congress is trying to showcase its opening of a Sainik School in the area and sanctioning land for setting up a National Defence College.

“We have held a recruitment rally for the Army in Mewat. And soon the area will be linked through a rail line, which is the Congress’ initiative,” District Congress Committee president Madan Lal Grover said.

The planned Rewari-Bhiwadi-Palwal railway line will pass through Mewat and near its district headquarters, Nuh, if and when it is constructed.

Malhotra added, “The literacy rate in Mewat is poor and you can forget about women’s education. But with our candidate a woman academician, we are raring to bring education within the reach of everybody in Mewat.”

While Hussain said, “The main issues I will take up will be the discrimination that has been done with Mewat. Despite being so close to Delhi and next to Gurgaon, it lacks roads and drinking water facilities. We do not have rail connectivity, no good academic institutions have been set up in the region.”

“I am going door-to-door with my agenda of development for the region and the policies of our party supremo Mayawati,” said Hussain, two-time legislator from this area.

Hussain has opened his election office in Mewat, largely ignoring urban pockets in the constituency.

In the absence of a political wave, issues like power in the city and water for irrigation in agriculture-dependent Mewat are the debating points in the campaign. Observers say this Lok Sabha election is turning out to be a referendum on the performance of the Haryana government. — IANS

New Delhi, April 26
As the student leaders desert the university campuses to campaign for their political gurus, music bands and young theatre activists are using their skills to convince the youngsters to forgo their cynicism to “get there and vote”.

Student union office-bearers across the universities in Delhi have left for different constituencies to address public meetings in support of their candidates.

“If you are 18 and you have the right to vote, then you should decide what ideology you should support. In fact as a student leader, it is a bigger responsibility to stand for your politics. Participation of youths in governance is important,” said Poonam Chaudhary, general secretary, NSUI, who is campaigning for Congress candidates.

There are student leaders, who have been sent to other parts of the country to talk to the young voters. “If politics decides our future, then we should decide what our politics would be. Student organisations are also based on ideologies and students should support candidates of their ideology,” said Roshan Kishore, secretary, Students’ Federation of India (SFI), JNU, while campaigning for CPM candidates in West Bengal.

Vice-president of JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) saw nothing strange in student leaders’ participation in mainstream politics. “We have our principles and there is nothing wrong in supporting the candidates who uphold those ideas,” she said.

BJP’s student outfit ABVP is conducting surveys amongst the students regarding the general elections. “We have put survey forms in the hostels. We are basically requesting the students to come out and vote. The forms also have a write-up on the issues we consider important in the general elections,” said Manoj from ABVP, who is also campaigning for BJP candidate Ramesh Bidhuri.

Some student leaders felt campaigning in general elections was an introduction to the larger politics. “Many student leaders grow up to join politics. Campaigning in the general elections gives them broader perspective towards the national and international issues,” said Dhananjay Tripathi, former JNUSU president.

On the other hand, the cultural activists are also putting their bit to reach out to the youth and motivate them to vote. Bengaluru-based band Thermal and a Quarter is doing rounds across cities urging the youth to vote with their special song “Shut up and Vote”.

“I think there are two categories of youths in India today. The urban youth should just make that effort to get there and vote. For them participating in democracy is about exercising their right to vote,” said Neil, bass guitarist of the fusion band Mrigya.

He added, “For the rural youth it is more complicated. They are caught up in several nexuses because of lack of either education or employment. They are at times forced to vote for petty benefits. So, on that level we require nothing short of a revolution. Proactive participation of rural youth in politics is required.”

Theatre activists believed culture has its politics. “Culture has important role to play in politics. Street theatre can connect with the voters much effectively than leaders’ speech,” said Sania Hashmi, street theatre activist.

Some actors felt that cultural activists could impress the masses more than the politicians. “Cultural activists can play better role. Voters are more impressed by small plays and political songs. It is the responsibility of a cultural activist to stand with the right politics,” said Keshav from National School of Drama (NSD).

New Delhi, April 26
Politicians, usually, contest elections to come to power, but this tea vendor in the Fatehpuri area who is contesting the Lok Sabha elections as an Independent candidate from Chandni Chowk constituency claims to contest elections to make contacts in the society and the administration.

Balram, who runs a tea stall at Gandhi Gali in Fatehpuri, claimed he had so far contested 15 elections and had always forfeited his security deposit. But he does not repent, as he does not fight to win.

Balram hails from eastern Uttar Pradesh. He said that hundreds of poor people migrate to the national capital to earn livelihood. They neither know any one nor have any connection. They often fail to get their administrative works done.

“Being a candidate I get chance to meet officers in the administration. I have idea of government departments. I help them when they come to me. People from UP and Bihar who work as labourers in the locality come to me with their problems,” he said.

Balram’s manifesto is different from those of political parties. His manifesto assures for jobs to youths, Rs 3,000 per month to unemployed youths, Rs 2,000 as pension to widows, Rs 2,000 to widows to marry their daughters, a hospital for 5,000 people, Rs 3,000 per month to the handicapped and a mall near Novelty Cinema.

Besides, he will get transfer all telephone and electric wires underground as they are hanging open in the Walled City. Balram said if elected he would fight against terrorism.

New Delhi, April 26
After a brief spell of relief from the sultry heat, the day temperature is expected to rise this week with the weatherman forecasting that mercury would touch 40° Celsius in the capital on Monday.

“The day temperature will hover around 40 to 41° Celsius for the next four days following western disturbance over Jammu and Kashmir,” said a duty officer at the Safdarjung Meteorological Department.

The maximum temperature on Sunday settled at 39.2° Celsius, one degree above normal for this time of summer while the minimum temperature was recorded at 20.4° Celsius, three notches below normal.

“The temperature will be two to four degrees above normal the next week thus increasing the heat in Delhi,” the official added.

The day temperature touched a high of 41.2° Celsius last week leaving the residents restless.

The Met department has forecast mainly clear sky and dry weather over the region. — IANS

New Delhi, April 26
Phool Bahadur (22), a chaat vendor, who was found grievously injured yesterday, succumbed to his injuries while undergoing treatment in the hospital today. He was found bleeding on account of severe knife injuries in a park in the Panjabi Bagh area of west Delhi yesterday afternoon.

According to information, he sold chaat near Transport Centre in Panjabi Bagh. Police managed to identify the victim on the basis of phone records from his mobile.

“He was a Nepali living in Delhi for past several years. On the basis of his phone records, we contacted his brother-in-law living in Nangloi area today and identified Phool Bahadur,” said the police. Police has lodged a case of murder in this regard and is investigating the matter.